NIFAM

What is NIFAM?

The NIFAM (Nutrition Intervention Forecasting and Monitoring) project is part of the Institute for Horticultural Sciences at the Institute of Crop Sciences and Resource Conservation, University of Bonn with a duration from July 2022 until March 2026. Dr. Cory Whitney and Dr. Simone Kathrin Kriesemer are leading the scientific and administrative parts of the project with valuable contribution from Dr. Luu Thi Thu Giang.

Our main objective is to develop decision recommendations for policy-makers concerning nutrition and food environment problems in Vietnam and Myanmar. The two countries have highly dynamic food environments, both struggle with food safety and food security issues.

Why is NIFAM needed?

The understanding of food environments can give insights into the complex problem of malnutrition that affects all countries around the world. Cause-effect relationships in complex socioecological systems, such as the food environment, are unclear and data are often scarce or lacking. Development-oriented research struggles to offer timely and practical support for complex development conditions. The alternative approaches used in this project offer support by both forecasting and monitoring different interventions. NIFAM proposes a transdisciplinary action research and development project to co-develop a scientific framework for decision support applicable to situations where resources are limited and costs, benefits, and risks of different possible nutrition interventions are uncertain. The contributors of this project aim to identify and implement cost-effective interventions to sustainably improve diets and reduce different forms of malnutrition (contributing to SDG 2).

Who contributes to NIFAM?

© HortiBonn Team; Trung Tâm Hỗ Trợ Phát Triển Nông Nghiệp Hữu Cơ - Center for Organic Agriculture Development and Support (Codas); Học Viện Nông Nghiệp Việt Nam - Vietnam National University of Agriculture; viện nghiên cứu rau quả - Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute; Viện Nghiên Cứu Sinh Thái, Chính Sách Xã Hội - Social Policy Ecology Research (SPERI); Trường Đại Học Y Tế Công Cộng - Hanoi University of Public Health; Sustainable Development Knowledge Network (Spectrum)

Our partners from Vietnam and Myanmar support the project with their exceptional knowledge about the local food environment, problems, and restrictions, and an immense motivation to implement the developed recommendations and nutrition interventions.

Three PhD students are doing their dissertation within this project covering different aspects of modeling nutrition interventions. Bui Thi Khanh Hoa from the Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA), Nguyen Thi Sau from the Fruits and Vegetables Research Institute (FAVRI), and Dinh Thi Kim Anh from the Hanoi University of Public Health (HUPH). Next to FAVRI, the Center for Organic Agriculture Development and Support (CODAS) is working strongly on the practical implementation of nutrition interventions in Hanoi, and the Social Policy Ecology Research Institute (SPERI) focuses on nutrition intervention in rural Vietnam. Our partner in Myanmar is the Sustainable Development Knowledge Network (Spectrum) which develops nutrition intervention approaches in Myanmar.

What is NIFAM doing?

Together with our partners in Vietnam, we assess the implementation of school gardens and the option of changing school menus to improve the diet of children in Hanoi and enhance their awareness of natural food and nature. Further, the intervention of fruit and vegetable shops located on factory compounds to make healthy food more accessible for factory workers and their families is analyzed. We model the options for farmers in peri-urban areas concerning their land use and whether maintaining their land, renting it, or searching for alternative income opportunities is beneficial. In collaboration with all partners, mainly the PhD students and the partner from Bonn, NIFAM is developing mathematical models that assess possible nutrition interventions by gathering expert knowledge and calibration.

In addition, the Bonn team is developing a monitoring approach to support updating the decision analysis model, focusing on narrowing critical knowledge gaps for variables with high information value. Furthermore, our postdoc, Thi Thu Giang Luu, is conducting a study analyzing the drivers and outcomes of the food environment in Hanoi and exploring leverage points for interventions in the food system.

Have a closer look at our models, the monitoring approach, and the study concerning:

The impact and benefits of a school garden.
Recommendations for school meal programs in urban Vietnam
The access to safe and fresh vegetables for workers to secure a healthy diet for families in urban Hanoi with a lower income.
The assessment of the impact of land use choices on livelihoods and food environments in peri-urban Hanoi.
Updating the Decision Analysis Models (Monitoring)
The drivers and outcomes of the food environment in Hanoi (Study)

The key result of the NIFAM project will be a set of recommendations to decision-makers regarding possible nutrition interventions within these highly complex food environments and which will be best suited for the local situations of Vietnam. “Best” in this context means having the highest and most cost-effective impact on the nutrition of local consumers, considering all known uncertainties of the food environment.

NIFAM’s achievements and activities

Throughout the ongoing project, NIFAM can present several achievements. The training on decision analysis and calibration advanced the progress of the models and the applications. Some of our first results were presented at the international conference “Tropentag 2024” in Vienna where all our PhD students were invited to present their work and progress.

The first implementations of nutrition interventions, the vegetable selling point at the factory Garco 10 in Hanoi and the installation and inauguration of a school garden in a private school in Hanoi, show the successful collaboration with our partners and their exceptional motivation and effort to improve the nutrition situation in Vietnam.

More details about our activities and conference contributions can be found here:

Activities